The Puget Sound Mycological Society (PSMS) is having its Fall Mushroom Show this weekend at Sand Point Magnuson Park, on both Saturday and Sunday. Apparently there's a book fair going on at the same time, but I'm telling Shelly that I'm just going for the Fall Show. Don't blow my cover.

Mycology (AKA "the tasty science") is the study of mushrooms, and I'm all for it — ideally, the study of finding, cooking, and eating them with me as a test subject. I grew up tromping the woods of Poland and Germany on family vacations, hunting for Boletus boletus (der gute Pilz), for Birkenpilze (AKA Leccinum scabrum) and Pifferlinge (chanterelles) and Fliegenpilze (just for looks). To this day, I know only the German or Latin name for a bunch of the most common edible mushrooms. I was very pleased to discover that the NW is home to a Lobstertail mushroom, a species I hadn't encountered before. It's easy to find wild mushrooms at every local supermarket. Yet I've never signed up with the local chapter of woods-trompers, despite the region's fame as a mushrooming haven.